The leaves may be bright and colourful in Muskoka, but the beer of choice is dark.

And that’s a good thing.

Muskoka Brewery of Bracebridge is continuing a year of celebrations and events marking its 20th anniversary by introducing a tasty new stout with a curious name.

Shinnicked is available now as part of Muskoka’s Winter Survival six-pack samplers. Single 473 ml cans will be on shelves in December, in time to pair with everything from chocolate desserts at Christmas parties to venison from hunting season.

A rival for Railway City’s outstanding Black Coal Stout, Shinnicked’s best quality is a pleasant infusion of coffee flavour. The coffee represents an interesting and collaboration with a local coffee roastery. Those who’ve visited, or are lucky enough to live in, the region will undoubtedly be familiar with Muskoka Roastery’s signature Lumberjack blend. That same Lumberjack coffee, a smooth, medium roast, gives Shinnicked its special quality and gives rise to the notion this might be the perfect breakfast beer.

“Muskoka Roastery handcrafts coffee and we handcraft beer,” said Gary McMullen, founder and president of Muskoka Brewery, in a press release. “Shinnicked was a natural collaboration of two Muskoka born brands that share the same values and commitment to the community. We worked closely with Muskoka Roastery from the brew stage to tasting to select the right roast to infuse Shinnicked with the perfect hint of coffee.”

The unusual name is an old Canadianism shuffling its way out of common usage. To be shinnicked is to be numb with cold. Think shivering, gasping for breath while skating on an outdoor rink or jumping in a Muskoka lake on New Year’s Day.

Shinnicked Stout has your back, ready to warm you up.

Muskoka, best known for its Mad Tom and Detour India pale ales, is no stranger to brewing my favourite cool weather beer style. Muskoka Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout, featuring freshly harvested local cranberries, will return to stores in November for its seasonal run.

While Shinnicked is a more straightforward and traditional approach to stout, how long it stays on shelves depends on the response from craft beer fans.

Here’s hoping it becomes a seasonal sensation for Muskoka, if not a year-round mainstay.

. . .

In addition to Shinnicked, the Muskoka Winter Survival Sampler includes Cream Ale, Craft Lager, Detour, Mad Tom, and, with its notes of banana and clove, Winterweisse.

As we’ve come to expect, the packaging is a hoot, with instructions of how to make a birch bark beer mug and how to use beer can tabs for hooks while ice fishing.

The Survival Pack is available at the LCBO, Beer Store, and select grocery stores.

. . .

It’s October, which means it’s time for some to mock pumpkin beers.

Not me. I’m up for seasonal variety and, seriously, there’s nothing spooky about pumpkin beer as an annual diversion.

I found a nice one at Bayside Brewing Co. in Erieau, southeast of Chatham on the shores of Lake Erie. No surprise that Bayside’s pumpkin ale took home a bronze medal for vegetable beers in this year’s Ontario Brewing Awards.

I paired it with the Bayside brew pub’s wild mushroom wood-fired pizza while my dining companion had a taste but retreated to the more traditional tasting Bayside Bronzeback Dark Ale.

It was a fitting conclusion to a day spent bird-spotting and hiking at Wheatley Provincial Park. Rondeau park is even closer to the brewery.